There are many various firearms used throughout the world for a variety of purposes including military, home/personal defense, hunting, sport/target shooting, or collecting. There are multiple types of guns or firearms: handguns, rifles, shotguns and artillery weapons including cannons. Although all of these firearms can each be utilized for multiple purposes, there are specific purposes for which a particular type of gun might be especially well-suited. For example, bird hunting (or skeet shooting) typically requires the use of a shotgun, when carrying (or wearing) a gun for personal protection a handgun is preferred, and military training often requires the use of the artillery weapons.
Other than the type of firearm, a main method of differentiating firearms is by the caliber of the ammunition (or bullet) that the firearm uses or, in the case of a shotgun, the gauge of the shell. For both rifles and handguns, the calibers can typically range from 0.22 to 0.50, with metric sizes also sometimes used. The caliber indicates the diameter of the bullet, or in some metric sizes both the diameter and length. Usually, the main difference between handgun, rifle and artillery ammunition is the actual size of the shell (which is the bullet and cartridge case that maintains the primer and gunpowder). Handgun ammunition is typically smaller than rifle ammunition, which allows the rifle cartridge to use a larger amount of gunpowder, resulting in the rifle having greater velocity and more power when fired. The longer barrels used for rifles also results in greater velocity and more power compared to handguns. This also applies to artillery weapons which have much larger and longer barrels that allow a round to be fired with great power a long distance.
Having many choices when deciding which particular type of firearm and caliber is generally a benefit. There are problems though. One major problem is that when a person does require multiple guns with different calibers. The most common solution is to acquire however many guns/calibers are necessary. This can be expensive and when the guns are not in use they must be safely stored. This problem is exacerbated when a person is away from their residence, such as when they are on a camping and hunting trip. In this scenario, when multiple guns are necessary, the person has no choice but to bring multiple guns with them. This is very inconvenient if not difficult, the guns must be carried to a camping or hunting site, and the guns must be kept in a safe location, not exposed to the elements. Another issue is that when target shooting, usually a large number of bullets are fired. Ammunition can be expensive, and the cost adds up quickly as bullets are repeatedly fired during target shooting. Many target shooters will bring larger caliber guns along with small caliber such as a .22 or .22LR. But again, this necessitates the bringing of multiple guns to the location where the target shooting is occurring.
For artillery weapons such as a cannon, the ammunition is much more expensive, and during training a large amount of ammunition is required which results in a high cost. Training must be performed and the only way for soldiers to become accustomed to and proficient with a cannon is to use the actual weapon.
The inventive system addresses and solves these problems by providing the ability to modify a conventional firearms or artillery weapon such as a cannon to fire ammunition other than the standard respective ammunition. For a shotgun, the system's solution is to provide interchangeable barrels, each sized to fire a selected caliber and that can be quickly and easily attached to a shotgun, along with a adapter that has the same size as a shotgun shell and therefore can be loaded into a shotgun magazine or inserted into a shotgun breach, fired, and ejected. For, an artillery weapon such as a cannon, the adapter is scaled up to a larger size that fits within the cannon. The only difference between the use for a shotgun or an artillery weapon is the size of the adapter, the functionality is the same.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any literature or patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention. However, the following U.S. patents are considered related:
PAT. NO.INVENTORISSUED2,059,658SandineNov. 3, 19362,321,737EngelJun. 15, 1943
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,059,658 patent discloses a gauge reduction liner for incorporation with a shotgun of a given gauge to permit the use of smaller gauge ammunition. The invention utilizes a novel ejecting mechanism for shell of smaller gauge, constructed and arranged to be operated by the gun ejector for the larger gauge shells.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,321,737 patent discloses a converter cartridge for use in high-powered rifle to adapt the chambers thereof for loading therein low-powered shorter cartridges. The cartridge for use particularly with bottleneck type, low-powered, center fire cartridge and equipped for easy and secure loading of the low-powered cartridge and for reloading repeatedly.
For background purposes and indicative of the art to which the invention relates, reference may be made to the following remaining patents found in the patent search.
PAT. NO.INVENTORISSUED1,191,618SaffordJul. 18, 19162,352,476FrenchJun. 27, 19443,156,995Mellor, et alNov. 17, 19643,339,304Knode, Jr., et alSep. 5, 19673,726,231Kelly, et alApr. 10, 19733,895,434SudanoApr. 23,19744,430,940JermunsonFeb. 14, 19844,494,332MatievichJan. 22, 19854,519,156ShawMay 28, 19854,867,039DobbinsSep. 19, 19894,989,359Kinkner, et alFeb. 5, 19915,012,744SowashMay 7, 19915,016,538SowashMay 21, 19915,157,210DavisOct. 20, 19925,341,587Phillips, Jr.Aug. 30,19945,388,523RossmannFeb. 14, 19955,706,599KnightJan. 13, 19985,987,797DustinNov. 23, 19996,513,274VastagFeb. 4, 20037,007,609Meyer, et alMar. 7, 20068,714,144ZadraMay 6, 20149,074,832CollinsJul. 7, 20159,441,899MicklethwaiteSep. 13, 20169,541,343DodsonJan. 10, 20179,719,762LangenbeckAug. 1, 20172010/0059032ZabraMar. 11, 2010